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So many of you may know this and some of you this will be news too. I was accepted on September 23th, 2012 to a volunteer program located in McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India through an organization called Lha. In this community I will be tutoring Tibetan refugees as well as a variety of other tasks in the community. (I have included a couple pictures as well) They would need my help during December and January. Due to this quick arrival I have been working 12-14 hour days to try to come up with not

only the financial aspect but to possibly include materials that are not easy to come by in their community. So the reason for this letter I will be doing services like cleaning, dog walking, cooking, errands, car washing, snow removal to raise money for this purpose. If these services are not an interest to you but you are able to donate in any way to help with the volunteering fees for living and supplies that are needed at Lha a $1.00 or $2.00 any amount is appreciated. I dont want anyone to feel pressure to get a service done or to donate money, I out of all people understand how hard it is in the economy these days, trying to find just a second job is feeling nearly impossible. However, if you are unable to get a service done or donate money Lha is in need of many materials that maybe laying around your house as well like;

- Whiteboard Markers for the Language classrooms - Travel/Pen Drives for the Computer School - Containers of Hand Sanitizer for the Community Soup Kitchen - Used Laptops for the Computer School and our other community programs

As you all know I am not someone that asks for help, however, in the case it is a whole community that will be helpedSo there is no time for an ego. The reason I am so passionate about this is within the past couple years my life has had many rough challenges (which most of us do go through). Within this time I have come to understand that even when you feel you have nothing left, strength is given to you from the people around you, which allows you to connect with the strength within your heart you never knew you had. Through the people I have met and the love I was given I realized that my path in life will always be to serve others. I want our future to be a more loving community and I believe this starts with giving without expecting anything in return. I have become passionate about starting a nonprofit organization to help the youth understand love, when a 13 year old girl I know started talking in a negative way about herself (I swear this is all connected). This is something that is not new to us we all write if off as growing up, but the bullying, depression, violent expression is becoming more than I ever knew when I was growing up. I dont want to go into this too much (but if you want to read more about my plan its included in the notes section of my facebook page). A big part of this project will be volunteering; it will show the youth to giving love to those in need without expecting anything in return, and the positive aspect that healthy love will have to those that are surrounded. Through this opportunity with Lha, I will be able to photography, film and write down these experiences to share with others. I also would hopefully like to team up with Lha to start fundraising money here in our community to send the youth to volunteer aboard for free, to children that have never thought it was possible because of financial issues. If you know any friends or family members that would be interested in donating any amount as well please feel free to have them contact me. http://ashmaraum.tumblr.com/ (If you would like to donate online you can through my account on Tumblr, I will be updating you on the fundraising as well as the trip its self) The Total cost is $4170.00 So as you can see any $ amount donated or any items donated will help greatly. Thank you for taking the time to read this, it truly comes from my heart. Also if you have any other ideas on how to raise money please let me know. Take care. Love, Ash